Pritchett faces must-win at Las Vegas before joining Pennzoil at SEMA
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Las Vegas win a must for Pritchett to stay in championship fight,
big week with Pennzoil at SEMA show before Pomona finale
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Oct 25, 2017) - Leah Pritchett heads to Las Vegas this week with
Don Schumacher Racing's Pennzoil Top Fuel dragster team intent on a miraculous end
to her first full-time professional season and is not ruling out jumping back into
the championship hunt.
The 29-year-old Southern California native living near Indianapolis understands
that the NHRA Countdown to the Championship hasn't gone the way she and crew chief
Todd Okuhara with assistant Joe Barlam had planned. She will be ranked No. 5 when
the NHRA Nationals opens Friday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When the Countdown playoff began on Sept. 15, she was seeded third and 30 out of
the points lead after being atop the Mello Yello Series points standings for the
first five months of the season. When the Las Vegas race begins she will be 180
points out of the lead and a longshot to leave the season-finale two weeks later
in Pomona, Calif., that was her home track when growing up in nearby Redlands,
with the championship.
Despite a disappointing four races to start the Countdown, her Pennzoil/Papa John's
Pizza/FireAde team had an incredible 18-race regular season when they won four titles
in six final rounds, earned six poles and reset the world elapsed time record twice.
"If you would have told us all the accomplishments we would have this year before
we opened the season at Pomona (in February) we would have said, 'sign us up.' It's
been amazing. But we are competitors and while we are excited about that, we wouldn't
be the racers we are if we didn't think we could go for more. We want more because
we know we can do more.
"These last two races are important on multiple levels," said Pritchett, who has
five career wins. "For our team, for our morale, going through all these highs
and lows together, I couldn't ask for anything more."
Points leader Steve Torrence, who has won a series-best eight times, leads Brittany
Force by 57 points and Doug Kalitta by 76. Pritchett's DSR teammate Antron Brown,
the two-time reigning world champ, is fourth (105 behind out of first) and Pritchett
is 180 out of the lead.
"This season has been a learning season, specifically what it takes to maintain
a championship-caliber level, and a win or two would create even more momentum.
We have the mentality of nothing to lose and everything to gain."
Pritchett and other DSR drivers will have an extended stay in Las Vegas when they
participate in the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show at the Las
Vegas Convention Center at which she and DSR teammate Matt Hagan will co-star at
the massive Pennzoil display.
The event is the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world,
and Pritchett recalls when she attended her first.
"I remember walking up to the Pennzoil booth 10 years ago as a small-time, grassroots
racer and introduced myself and hoped one day I'd have Pennzoil as a partner," she
said. "Now I will be one of the featured drivers at the Pennzoil display that will
be the largest stage at SEMA.
"That will be very humbling and a testament to what it means to be a driver for
Don Schumacher Racing."
COUNTDOWN BREAKDOWN
Antron Brown clinched his last two world championships for Don Schumacher Racing
at Las Vegas and was able to celebrate two weeks later at the Pomona finale in
Southern California.
That won't happen for Brown or any other driver in the nitro categories this year,
largely because NHRA enhanced the points value for the season-ending NHRA Finals
by about 150 percent.
At Las Vegas this weekend, like 22 of the previous 23 events in the Mello Yello
Drag Racing Series, the most a driver can earn with a perfect weekend is 130 points;
at Pomona, 191 can be earned.
No Top Fuel or Funny Car driver can leave Las Vegas with a 192-point lead and clinch
a championship, and any driver 192 or more points out of first after Sunday's final
round at Las Vegas will be eliminated from contention.
The seven DSR drivers and 19 of the 20 in the Countdown remain alive in championship
contention but most are likely to be mathematically eliminated after Las Vegas.
In Funny Car, DSR's Ron Capps (NAPA AUTO PARTS) is atop the standings but just 24
points ahead of hard-charging Robert Hight of John Force Racing. The drivers each
have won twice through the first four Countdown playoff races. Jack Beckman (Infinite
Hero) is fourth, 186 back while Matt Hagan (Pennzoil/Mopar) is fifth (-226) and
Tommy Johnson Jr. (Make-A-Wish) is seventh (-271).
In Top Fuel, Steve Torrence leads Brittany Force and Doug Kalitta by 57 and 76 points,
with DSR's three-time world champion Antron Brown, winner of the last two championships
for Matco Tools, ranked fourth and 105 behind Torrence. Leah Pritchett (Pennzoil)
is fifth (-180) and eight-time world champ Tony Schumacher is sixth (-192).
LEAH PRITCHETT, Pennzoil
Crew chief: Todd Okuhara; Assistant: Joe Barlam
Pts Events Wins Rup Semi Qtr 1st rd Poles DNQ
W/L
2017 5th 22 4 2 8
6 2 6 0 44-18
CAREER 92 5 3 15 19
44 7 6 78-81
Career best time, speed: 3.640 sec. (2017 Brainerd); 331.53 (2017 Brainerd)
BY THE NUMBERS
Last event, Oct. 15, Dallas: Qualified No. 6, lost in second round to Antron Brown
A year ago at Las Vegas 2: Qualified No. 2, lost in semifinals to Steve Torrence
This spring at Las Vegas 1: Qualified No. 5, lost in semifinals to Antron Brown
Career at Las Vegas 2: Wins 0, Runner-ups 0, Poles 0
Career at Las Vegas: Wins 0, Runner-ups 0, Poles 0
COUNTDOWN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
(Official standings through Dallas; 22 of 24 events; DSR drivers in CAPS)
Top Fuel
1. Steve Torrence (8) 2465 -----
2. Brittany Force (3) 2408 -57
3. Doug Kalitta (1) 2389 -76
4. ANTRON BROWN (4) 2360 -105
5. LEAH PRITCHETT (4) 2285 -180
6. TONY SCHUMACHER (1) 2273 -192
7. Clay Millican (1) 2268 -197
8. Shawn Langdon (0/1) 2193 -272
9. Terry McMillen 2147 -318
10. Scott Palmer 2137 -328
ABOUT DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Don Schumacher Racing, headquartered near Indianapolis in Brownsburg, Ind., includes
seven professional NHRA teams in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
In Top Fuel, the Leah Pritchett in the Papa John's Pizza dragster, U.S. Army dragster
driven by eight-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher, the three-time
and reigning world champion Matco Tools dragster driven by Antron Brown.
In Funny Car, two-time world champion Matt Hagan in the Mopar Express Lane 2017
Dodge Charger R/T, 2016 world champion Ron Capps and the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge,
2012 NHRA world champion Jack Beckman in Terry Chandler's Infinite Hero Foundation
Dodge and Chandler's Make-A-Wish Dodge with Tommy Johnson Jr.
DSR has won 315 NHRA national event titles and 16 world championships.
Follow Don Schumacher Racing at ShoeRacing.com, on Twitter at @shoeracing and Facebook.com/shoeracing
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff Wolf (wolfj@shoeracing.com), 702.524.1368
Leah Vaughn (vaughnl@shoeracing.com), 618.516.1988
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